1. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to systems for moving a patient on a surface, such as a bed or gurney; for lateral transfer a patient from one surface to another surface and rotation of the patient and/or limbs at any angle. The invention specifically relates to systems where a patient body or a limb can be moved and fixed in any sequence of multiple operations with a single drive and where the patient body and/or limb has positive support at any angle of rotation.
2. Description of Related Technology
Patient movement and repositioning occurs on a regular basis in hospitals and in other medical care facilities, such as nursing homes or home care. There are a variety of devices dedicated to patient repositioning. However, the known patient moving devices cannot perform multiple operations of patient repositioning with a single drive and at the same time provide positive support of the patient body at any angle of rotation.
Existing patient repositioning systems with a single drive can provide only a single function of patient repositioning, e.g., lateral transfer or rotation, with support of the patient body only at angles of less than 90°. Some movements can combine rotation and limb lifting, but the rotation and limb lifting are combined in a single operation. In such devices, only the first movement is controllable and the second movement is tied to the first movement. U.S. Pat. No. 6,615,423, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,323, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein, discloses examples of such devices. When used to perform multiple patient movements, e.g., lateral transfer or rotation, these existing systems, require more than one system.
When rotating a patient from 0° to 180°, e.g., a prone operation, existing devices provide body support only during rotation from 0° to 90° and the patient body must be additionally supported from free fall in rotation over 90 degrees.
Some mechanisms have been developed for complete 180° rotation, but these mechanisms are bulky and expensive. In one example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0168253, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein, discloses a device for rotating a patient. This device has controllable movement only to rotate patient up to 90°; movement over 90° is a free fall and the patient is not supported beyond 90° of rotation.
In another example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0044629, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein, discloses a device for 180° rotation and supports the patient during rotation, but this device is very complicated and expensive.
Moreover, the devices disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2004/0168253 and 2005/0044629 are not capable of performing lateral transfer of a patient from one surface to another and fix the patient body or limb in a suspended position in a multifunctional operation.